Bowling News
There was quite a bit of interest in the etiquette poser posted last week so I thought I would pass another one by the wise old men and women of Huddersfield to see what they make of this situation regarding the unwritten rules of bowling etiquette.
Situations on the green are normally well covered by the Laws of the Game but it is off the green where there is the greatest pressure on commonsense and bowling etiquette.
It is a Huddersfield Veterans 10-Man League fixture involving 3 Pairs and 4 Singles games. The visiting team captain knows that one of his Pairs bowlers will not arrive until at least 30 minutes after the 1.30pm start time, he has no reserves available. The home team always has the right of selection of the running order of games - Singles or Pairs first - and on this occasion they state that Pairs will play first.
The visiting captain has to decide if he should play his late arrival Pairs bowler in the later round of Singles games and move one of his Singles bowlers into the Pairs game. This will not be received well by either involved bowler as they have their own preferences in which they normally play and that has proven successful over many games this season.
Alternatively, the visiting captain can appeal to the better nature of the home team in asking either that
a) they put Singles on first instead or;
b) they allow one of the Pairs games to be delayed for later and play one of Singles games early instead.
Either of these two options will enable the latecomer to play in his preferred Pairs game.
You are the home team captain, what would you do? Would you agree to either of these options in the spirit of friendly competition or not?
Jeff, It is almost as if you can see the future. This exact scenario happened yesterday (29th June) when HRC hosted Kirkheaton Con B. Kirkheaton were a doubles player short at 1.30pm so Maurice (Kirkheaton captain) and I (HRC captain) agreed to put singles on first followed by doubles at which time the missing man had arrived. Everyone got a game in the sunshine and surely that is the whole point of the afternoon.
It’s only a game . We’re not playing in the all England finals. So, I would play 2 doubles and 1 singles first. In my experience this usually has been the solution although I’m sure others would want to keep to their usual order if they always played pairs first.
Philip of Lindley